Auld acquaintance 2012

The Grim Reapster was a busy boy this year. Notables from Neil Armstrong to Rodney King gave us pause to recall where we were when humanity first landed on the Moon or ran short in Los Angeles. The entertainment world lost a few elder statespersons, such as Andy Griffith, Ernest Borgnine and Phyllis Diller.

But the theme for 2012 appeared to be premature passing. Actors from Michael Clarke Duncan to Robert “Epstein” Hegyes sent me off to IMDb to check a feeling that the recently departed weren’t all that old. Even a life as controversy-filled as Whitney Houston’s didn’t seem like it got to run its full course. Indeed, Tony Scott almost made the official list not by virtue of his contributions to Hollywood decades ago but because his brain-cancer-prompted bridge-plummet suicide was dramatic enough that it could have been the end to one of his movies.

With due deference to the many folks who didn’t make the list, the following eight people were remarkable even in a field of respected media masters.

Ray Bradbury – You are now reading words written by me thanks in no small part to Ray Bradbury. The Halloween Tree and The Martian Chronicles were great personal favorites way back in my early years when I first began to develop the notion that writing might be a fun thing to do. As I got older I lost some of my appreciation for his sweetly sentimental view of life (not that all his stuff was sweet; “Fever Dream” still creeps me out). But I always respected his skill as a writer and his contributions to the worlds of novels, short stories, television and movies. Were I the black-arm-band-wearing sort, I would have worn one to mark his passing.

Don Cornelius – As a kid I hated Soul Train. I had no particular animosity for the music or the show’s host. But the long wail of “It’s the Sooooooooooooooooul Train!” signaled that Saturday morning cartoons were over. Though running a show in such a dreadful time slot wasn’t the height of respect from station owners, Cornelius’s creation nonetheless became one of the most successful shows in first-run syndicated TV history. Sadly, in the end Cornelius joined Scott on the list of suicides prompted by declining health.

Nora Ephron – For better or worse, Ephron’s work reshaped romantic comedy in the late 80s and early 90s. When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail helped establish genre conventions still in use today.

Donna Summer – Being known as the Queen of Disco might not seem like much of an honor now, but back in the 70s it was a big deal. Summer’s songs were the sound of an era. Without “Hot Stuff,” disco wouldn’t have been the same (and that one actually hit somewhat late in the game). Even if her music had never gone anywhere, she would still have been worth it just for her album covers.

Helen Gurley Brown – Hard to imagine a time when Cosmopolitan was at the forefront of sexual freedom for women. Lists of ways to drive your man wild in bed seem outmoded now, but in the 1960s Cosmo represented an acknowledgement that sex might actually be fun rather than just an ugly duty performed for the sake of maintaining a marriage. As the magazine’s editor and a successful book author on the side, Brown helped usher in big changes in publishing and society.

Gore Vidal – Gifted essayist. Prolific novelist. Forget all that. The man wrote the screenplay for Caligula and once came ever-so-close to getting into a fistfight with William F. Buckley on national television. What more could anyone do to make the list?

Kodak – Corporations don’t really die. But in January this former mainstay of the photography world filed for Chapter 11 protection. In February it pulled out of the digital camera business, and in August it announced that it would sell several of its remaining operations, most notably the lion’s share of its film manufacturing division. This isn’t just the passing of a company. It’s the official acknowledgment of the end of an era. Kodak dominated the photographic film business for more than 100 years, starting with George Eastman’s invention of roll film. Now Kodak’s bread and butter has joined open-air cooking and horseback riding on the list of things we might do for fun every once in awhile but don’t rely on as part of our everyday lives.

Maurice Sendak – For the second year in a row the list ends with the heartbreaking loss of a beloved children’s book author. Sendak would have been a great loss to the world even if Where the Wild Things Are had been his sole creation. But then there was Higglety Pigglety Pop! And then there was The Nutshell Library. And then there was Really Rosie. And then there was ... well, everything else he ever did. And he was actively creating new work up until right around his death. So his passing really did deprive the world of a good opportunity to be less terrible. He will be missed.